The elections for the Municipal Councils are being held across the state. The claim made by Ludhiana Mayor Inderjit Kaur that elections will also be held in Ward 8 along with the council elections fall flat as no announcement has been made to hold elections in the ward where the sitting Congress councillor had passed away on January 29, 2025. Since then, there has been no permanent councillor in the ward.
Reacting to the failure of the AAP government to announce the byelection for Ward 8 of the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation alongside the municipal elections, Punjab Congress secretary Dhruv Agarwal stated that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the MLA from the Ludhiana North constituency were not interested in holding the elections in Ward 8.
Agarwal said AAP fears defeat as the ward was dominated by the Congress. “The MLA concerned or the AAP leaders will not take any risk as they fear defeat in the ward, which will cast impact over the upcoming Assembly elections,” he alleged.
Replying to the accusations made by the Congress leader, MLA Madan Lal Bagga said he was not the authority to decide whether the elections would be held or not. “The Election Commission has to take the call on the same. However, the representation to hold the poll in the ward has been sent to higher-ups. We have four-five AAP leaders, who can give a tough fight to any candidate,” he said.
According to the norms, the election for a councillor in the ward must be held within six months of the vacancy arising. However, despite the passage of one year and four months, the Election Commission is yet to conduct the poll in the ward.
Agarwal asserted that if the poll for the ward was not announced concurrently with the municipal elections, the case would be taken up to the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
“The State Election Commission must announce the date for the Ward 8 byelection so that residents of the area may exercise their right to elect their representative,” he said.
